The lawsuit, filed by Lucero’s estae in November 2010, seeks $40 million for the municipalities not protecting Lucero’s civil rights the night of Nov. 8, 2008. Along with the town and the village, the lawsuit also names Suffolk County, the Suffolk County Police Department and 10 of its officers as defendants.

In a Nov. 2 ruling, Judge Leonard Wexler dismissed the town and village as defendants, saying that since neither municipality has a police force, they did not have the ability or responsibility to protect the area in Patchogue where Lucero was attacked by seven teenagers.

“Even construing the facts most favorably to the plaintiff shows no such relationship between any town or village defendant and Lucero,” Wexler said in his ruling.

While Wexler’s decision removes the town and village from the lawsuit, Suffolk County and its police department, along with the 10 unnamed officers, are now the only defendants in the case.

The Lucero estate claims the county fostered a climate of hate between whites and Hispanics, and that several police officers let the teens go after allegedly attacking another Hispanic victim the night before.